Printmakers Pushing the Boundaries, exhibition at the Qube Oswestry

 

This exhibition and project was one of the highlights of 2021 for our Printmakers Pushing the Boundaries group of Printmakers.  We are a group of six Printmakers and one Printmaker/Enameller who have been working together, meeting and walking in the Marches - the boundary between Wales and England.  Our aim is to explore a defined landscape to make individual expressions in print and other media, focusing on developing and extending our practices within this shared environment.  

We have been exploring several areas along the borders and one of the places I focused on was Chirk Viaduct and Aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border, spanning the two countries. 

I am drawn to the structure of the Viaduct and Aqueduct and its place in the valley alongside the nature that surrounds it.  We visited in late spring when the trees were in abundance, and this led me to making this three colour layer screen print.

As a contrast we visited Whittington Castle, near Oswestry in Winter just before Christmas 2020, when the trees were stripped bare of leaves and growth.  The structure of the trees fascinates me as they take on different shapes , with feather like branches reaching up to the sky.  I always try to discover different views of a place as I explore and the newer addition of the bridge is a perfect contrast to the much older stonework of the castle.  Here is my screen print with three layers of colour of Whittington Castle that I created for the exhibition.